Bakery Style Double Chocolate Chip Muffin

  

Do you ever have one of those days when you’re really in the mood for chocolate cake, but you don’t want to trouble yourself to make chocolate cake? Yesterday that was me. Chocolate cake seemed like so much trouble because chocolate cake always begs for chocolate frosting, more specifically chocolate buttercream frosting, and I had neither the time nor inclination. As a consequence, I pulled out my file of chocolate recipes (Doesn’t everyone have a file of chocolate recipes?) and came upon this one. It sounded easy enough, it didn’t call for any special equipment, most importantly, I didn’t have to trouble myself to get out a stand or hand mixer.  I altered the recipe a tiny bit — in my opinion all chocolate recipes require espresso powder to really amp up that deep chocolate taste. I also like the slightly larger dark chocolate chips because, well, who doesn’t want more chocolate?

These are delicious! Be sure to make them using the tulip baking cups because that allows you to use a 12-well muffin tin, but get larger muffins. They’ll turn out perfectly, and look how pretty they are.

Bakery Style Double Chocolate Chip Muffin

Adapted from momlovesbaking.com

2 c. flour

1 c. sugar

½ t. salt

½ c. unsweetened cocoa powder

1 t. baking soda

1 t. espresso powder

1¼ c. Nestle’s 53% cacao dark chocolate chips

2 large eggs, room temperature

¾ c. sour cream

½ c. vegetable oil

1 c. milk

1 t. pure vanilla extract

 Preheat oven to 425°F. Line a 12-count muffin pan with tulip style cupcake liners; set aside.

In a large bowl whisk together flour, sugar, salt, cocoa powder, baking soda, and espresso powder until thoroughly combined. Stir in 1 cup of the chocolate chips; set aside.

 In a medium bowl whisk together eggs, sour cream, oil, milk and vanilla until combined. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and gently stir until combined. Do not overmix.

Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin pan. Use the remaining ¼ cup of chocolate chips to add a few on top of each muffin before baking. Bake for 5 minutes at 425°F; reduce oven temperature to 350°F and continue to bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center of muffin comes out clean. Allow to cool 10 minutes. Muffins taste best served fresh on the same day, but you can store them at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 5 days.

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Cranberry Walnut Irish Soda Bread Muffins

This post contains affiliate links.

Oh my goodness, these are so good! I was perusing the Guinness website because I had bought a six-pack, but only had firm plans for two bottles (one for my traditional corned beef, the other for Irish Guinness Brown Bread), and was wondering what to do with all of the rest. (I am not a beer drinker. No.) When I came across this recipe, I had to try it. This recipe also included another recipe for what they referred to as maple butter, although instead of using maple syrup, they used honey. Umm, that would be honey butter, not maple butter, but I digress. So, I adapted that to use real bourbon-aged maple syrup, and it is phenomenal on pretty much anything in the baked good category.

I am not a baker, as you all know, it irritates me. This recipe, however, didn’t irritate me as much as some. You don’t need any special equipment to make it, and I didn’t have to drag out the mixer. That pleased me. These are good at any time of the day. I can’t speak for how well they freeze, but my hope is that they will because they’re going into the freezer until I serve my St. Patrick’s Day dinner au deux on the 20th.

 Cranberry Walnut Irish Soda Bread Muffins

(with Whipped Maple Butter)

Slightly adapted from Guinness.com

 ½ c. dried cranberries*

1 c. Guinness® Extra Stout

2¼ c. flour

2 t. baking powder

¼ t. baking soda

½ t. salt

1/3 c. granulated sugar

1 egg

1 c. buttermilk

6 T. melted Irish butter

½ c. chopped walnuts

Flaky sea salt**

Demerara sugar

 Preheat oven to 400°F.

 Combine cranberries and Guinness® Extra Stout. Microwave on high for 45 seconds and let it steep and cool, to allow those cranberries to saturate with all that lovely beer flavor. Strain and set aside.

 Mix together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and sugar. In a separate bowl, whisk together egg, buttermilk and melted butter. Combine the dry and wet ingredients until just mixed. Do not over mix, you just want all the dry ingredients hydrated.

 Gently fold in cranberries and walnuts.

 Fill muffin tin with tulip liners (or spray muffin tin with a liberal amount of non-stick cooking spray). Fill each section about ¾ of the way up. Top with a pinch flaky sea salt and Demerara. Bake for about 18-25 minutes or until a toothpick or cake tester comes out clean.

 Cool for 5 minutes and quickly remove each muffin from the tin and finish cooling on a wire rack.

 Whipped Maple Cinnamon Butter

 2 Sticks Irish Butter, room temperature

¼ c. pure maple syrup

1 t. cinnamon

1 t. kosher salt

 Using a whisk, whip butter until everything is combined. Season to taste. Use on everything!

 *I used Melissa’s dried tart cherries. I think they are much more flavorful, and because of their larger size tend to hydrate better, holding more of that Guinness goodness.

**I used Fleur de Sel.

 

A.M. Delight Muffins

When I was going through my mother’s recipe box a while ago (in search of the elusive chili sauce recipe), I stumbled upon this one, cut from a magazine (from appearances, my guess would be Taste of Home), and stapled together. I don’t recall her ever making these muffins, so, muffin person that I am, thought it my duty to give them a try. I liked them!

I am not a person who enjoys sugary sweetness in the morning. While I do love a good donut — the bigger the better — along with the rest of you, I want mine in the evening, after dinner, with a cup of coffee. In which case, I found these to be the perfect breakfast muffin for me. They have a lot of flavor, thanks to the apples, carrots, coconut, and raisins, a bit of a crunch thanks to the nuts (I swapped walnuts for the called for almonds), and, despite the three-quarter cup of sugar, only have a delicate sweetness, nothing heavy or cloying. A slathering of pumpkin cream cheese on top of a warm muffin was the perfect fall breakfast.

A.M. Delight Muffins

2 cups all-purpose flour
¾ cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon allspice
Pinch of cloves
½ teaspoon kosher salt
3 large eggs
½ cup of vegetable oil
½ cup whole milk
1½ teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups chopped, peeled, Organic Melissa’s Granny Smith Apples
2 cups freshly grated carrots
½ cup sweetened flaked coconut
½ cup golden raisins
½  cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 375° F. Grease or paper-line muffin cups; set aside.

In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking soda, spices, and salt. In another bowl, beat eggs, oil, milk, and vanilla. Mix well; stir in dry ingredients just until moistened. Fold in the remaining ingredients. Fill greased or paper-lined muffin cups 3/4 full. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until muffins test done.

Yield: 1 1/2 dozen.

This post contains affiliate links.

Glazed Almond Poppy Seed Muffins

These snowy winter days are really bringing me down.  What’s worse, they are bringing Mr. O-P, man-in-knee-surgery-waiting, down as well.  I can handle my own moments of melancholy, but living with a melancholy man…well, it is NOT fun.

So it’s time to inject a little cheer into these frosty mornings with a crackling fire in the fireplace, the newspaper, some Irish coffee, and a basket of fresh-from-the-oven almond muffins.  We are both big fans of almond, so this was an easy choice.  They employ the use of two mixing bowls, so no need to drag out the heavy stand mixer.  Another plus is that you probably have everything needed in your pantry already, so stay right at home, there is just no need to scrape the ice off the windshield AGAIN.

Try these the next time you’re feeling blue from all of the white.  You’ll feel better.

Glazed Almond Poppy Seed Muffins

2 extra-large eggs

1 cup granulated sugar

½ of a 13-oz. can evaporated milk (6.5 ounces)

2 Tablespoons whole milk

1 cup vegetable oil

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon almond extract

3 Tablespoons poppy seeds

Glaze

½ teaspoon almond extract

1 Tablespoon milk

½ cup confectioners’ sugar

Preheat the oven to 325°F

Spray two 6-cup jumbo muffin pans with Pam; set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together eggs, sugar, evaporated milk, whole milk, oil, and extracts until thoroughly blended.  In a medium mixing bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, and salt.  Gradually add the flour mixture to the wet mixture, whisking until well combined.  Fold in poppy seeds, just until incorporated.  Pour batter into prepared muffin tins, filling each well 2/3 full.  Bake for 25-30 minutes until nicely crowned and the edges are browned.

Meanwhile prepare glaze: Stir ingredients together until blended.  Add more sugar if too runny.

 

Remove from oven and invert over a baking rack.  Drizzle with glaze while still warm.

Makes 12

This post is linked to:

Full Plate Thursday

Be Inspired Friday

Foodie Friday

Show and Tell Friday 

Pumpkin Cheesecake Muffins

While opinions vary, my contention has always been that there are four genres of mystery: the Whodunnit, or classic mystery, Hard-boiled, Police Procedural, and the Cozy, the latter being my favorite.  A sub-genre of this genre (are you still with me?) is the culinary cozy, a variety of mystery that has enamored me since I read my first (though written too early - 1986 - to have been labeled as such), The Nantucket Diet Murders by the late Virginia Rich.  Titles and covers grab my attention first when book shopping, opening up this one and finding the end pages covered in recipes was all it took for me to make the purchase and then fall in love with the genre.  Since then I've tried to read every mystery that features recipes; it's not easy!  Michael Bond, Diane Mott Davidson, Joanne Fluke, Ellen Hart and Joanne Pence are among the writers in this ever-growing list, as well as relative newcomers like Krista Davis, Avery Aames, and Livia Washburn.  Rarely do I actually try one of the recipes, that is until now.  I've decided that not only will I read the mysteries, but also make at least one of the recipes from the book.

Today's selection is a seasonal one, The Pumpkin Muffin Murders by Livia J. Washburn.  I wanted to bake the entire time I read this novel.  Seriously, I could almost smell the pumpkin.  So I gave them a whirl this morning and was very pleased with the results.  I used a jumbo muffin pan, so instead of filling each well of batter with just one tablespoon of the cream cheese mixture, I used a 2 tablespoon-size cookie scoop and it worked out well.  I think the next time I may just make the indentation in each muffin a bit deeper and add even more.  I also tend to like raisins in pumpkin muffins (particularly those that have been soaked in 2 tablespoons of rum to loosen, err, plump them up), so will add them when I make these again.  What a wonderful fall breakfast they provided on the patio this morning!  The recipe is below with my comments in parentheses.

Pumpkin Cheesecake Muffins

from The Pumpkin Muffin Murders by Livia J. Washburn

Filling:

1 8-oz. pkg. cream cheese, softened 

1 egg

3 T. brown sugar

1 t. vanilla extract

Topping:

4-1/2 T. all-purpose flour

3 T. brown sugar

1/2 t. ground cinnamon

1/4 t. ground ginger

3 T. chopped pecans

3 T. butter

Muffin:

2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2 cups white sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 eggs

1-1/3 cups canned pumpkin

1/3 cup vegetable oil

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 375 F.  Grease and flour 18 muffin cups, or use paper liners (I sprayed with PAM and they came out of the pan with ease.). Fill any unfilled muffin cups with water (to promote even baking).

Filling:

In a medium bowl, beat softened cream cheese until smooth. Add egg, brown sugar, and vanilla. Beat until mixed, then place bowl in freezer to set while making other ingredients. 

Topping:

In a medium bowl, mix flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, ginger, and pecans. Add butter and cut it in with a fork until crumbly. Set aside. 

Muffin batter: 

In a large bowl, blend flour, sugar, baking powder, pumpkin pie spice, and salt. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and add eggs, pumpkin, vegetable oil, and vanilla. Beat together until well mixed. 

Place pumpkin mixture in muffin cups about 1/2 full. Take the cream cheese mixture out of the freezer and add 1 tablespoon of the cream cheese mixture right in the middle of the batter in the muffin cups. Having the cream cheese mixture will help you keep the cream cheese from touching the edges. Sprinkle on the streusel topping. 

Bake for 20-25 minutes. (If using larger muffin pans, you may need to bake a bit longer.  Test for doneness with a toothpick.  Remove from oven and run a sharp knife around the edge of each muffin. Allow to cool in pan for ten minutes. Gently pry from pan with knife and place on wire rack to cool completely.)

NOTE: Use remaining pumpkin for pumpkin pie cocoa.

I was tickled pink to be able to add this antique medicine bottle to my collection of flower vases.  Just this morning it was unearthed by the guy who came out to grind down the last of the five stumps we had left from the uprooted trees.  I washed it, added zucchini leaves and a zinnia and had a lovely seasonal addition to my place setting.

This post is linked to:  

Foodie Friday
Food on Friday
Friday Favorites
Friday Fat Camp
I'm Lovin' It Friday
Simply Delish Saturday
Fantabulous Friday

Seasonal Sundays

Whole Lemon Muffins

As I mentioned at the end of last year in this post, one of my plans for the New Year was to learn cuisines with which I was unfamiliar, so I started by requesting a lot (LOT!) of books from the library.  Many I have loved, and many have been hugely disappointing.  One series of books that I have quite enjoyed is by the Texas Pastry Queen.  Don't the covers alone make you salivate?  Wait until you look inside!

Today's recipe comes from her Entertaining book.  Now I know what you're thinking, a muffin is not exotic, and that's true, but this one is quite unique in that it contains a whole lemon: the peel, the pith, the fruit.  It makes for a muffin unlike any other I've ever had, with a dense, rich texture, a touch of sweetness, and a very complex taste.  Redolent of lemon, not tart, but with perhaps a tiny touch of the bitterness one might expect from the peel and pith of a lemon.

I am not one for leaving well enough alone, as you know, so thought these benefited greatly in both taste and appearance with a little lemon juice and confectioner's sugar drizzle, and then a light dusting with even more confectioners' sugar.  These are not overly sweet muffins, so these two small additions complemented rather than overwhelmed.

Be sure to check out my GIVEAWAY here. The premier issue of WHERE WOMEN COOK can be yours.

Upside-Down Caramel-Apple Muffins Revisited

In all fairness to the New York Times recipe people, I gave their Upside-Down Caramel-Apple muffins another chance. It is, after all a new day, and miracles can often happen overnight. Flavors can mingle, textures can change, and moisture can be sucked out of the atmosphere to create a truly tender and flavorful muffin. So I cut one in half and tasted it. Eh. So-so. It does have flavor. Some flavor. Pleasant flavor, I suppose, but my main issue, I think, is with the rather dry and crumbly, esophagus-jamming texture. The other half I warmed in the microwave. I think (but am not positively sure) that the warmed version was better. But the fact of the matter is, I am still not comfortable eating something that has me mentally running through the steps on how to perform a self-inflicted Heimlich maneuver, so thumbs are still down on this one. The caramelized apples, however, are very good and would make an excellent ice cream topping, so my efforts were not all wasted.



My gut instinct is to just chuck these into the bin, but my husband (who has been known to save a half dozen corn niblets at the conclusion of a meal) has instilled in me some sort of food disposal guilt and while I’m not the obsessive saver that he is, I imagine these will take up space on the counter for the next couple of days or, more likely, end up in what I like to call Food Purgatory – the downstairs freezer where all things go and are never seen in the same way again. Which makes me wonder why it is that some people (yes, my husband again) can’t toss something initially, but can let it morph into some freezer burned petrifaction and then get rid of it. Something to ponder.